For corrupt officials, there is only one word of death.
It is different from party disputes and people who are threatening. This is hatred from the heart.
In the first year of the Tianli reign of Emperor Wenzong of Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang was born into a poor peasant family.
In the third year of Zhengzheng, a drought occurred in Haozhou.
Severe locust plagues and plagues occurred in the spring of the following year.
Within half a month, Zhu Yuanzhang's father, eldest brother and mother passed away one after another, leaving only Zhu Yuanzhang and his second brother.
Because Zhu Yuanzhang's family was poor and had no money to buy a coffin, he didn't even have a piece of land to bury his relatives. In the end, his neighbor Liu Jizu gave them a cemetery.
It can be said that when Zhu Yuanzhang saw these corrupt officials, he thought of his parents and brothers who starved to death because of officials' corruption and failure to open warehouses in time to release grain and provide relief to the people. He also thought of his embarrassment of being powerless at that time.
Now, he is already the emperor. As the ninth emperor, he can put other things aside, but this matter must not be postponed.
What's more, he is the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. It can be said that this country has suffered a decline in people's livelihood due to the years of war and is in urgent need of self-cultivation and recuperation. He doesn't have much money in his hands. These officials don't know how to restrain themselves at all and only care about their own enjoyment. So they still Are you worthy of being an official of the Ming Dynasty?
Apart from this, it can be said that Lao Zhu is the only emperor who can truly empathize with and understand the hardships of people's livelihood.
None of the other founding emperors had enough food and clothing to worry about, and at worst they were not without food.
Lao Zhu was the most miserable, so he hated corrupt officials and incompetent officials the most.
Now these two people are not only corrupt, harming the public and enriching themselves, not only harming the interests of Ming Dynasty, more seriously, the defeat of a war may cause more serious turmoil.
It was already intolerable, and now it is even more intolerable.
In the field, all officials treated him seriously.
In the second year of Hongwu's reign, Zhu Yuanzhang became furious when he saw the expenses handed over by the Ministry of Revenue. He pointed at the Shangshu of the Ministry of Finance who was kneeling on the ground and shouted.
"In the past, when I was a common man, I saw corrupt officials paying no attention to the sufferings of the people. I hated them in my heart. From now on, I will make laws to strictly prohibit it. If I encounter corrupt officials who dare to harm the people, I will never forgive them!"
When the ministers saw Zhu Yuanzhang losing his temper, they immediately knelt down. Then Zhu Yuanzhang promulgated the most "gruesome" decree in history. Anyone who embezzled more than 60 taels of silver would be killed without mercy.
Now, for the two people on the scene, the consequences can be predicted.
Baiguan also knew in his heart that the two of them were hopeless. If there was no accident, they would basically die.
When the matter reached this point, Lao Zhu did not rush to deal with it, but said to Mao Xiang beside him.
"Go and call all the officials in Beijing who have passed the rank."
"yes."
After saying this, Lao Zhu stopped talking, and the officials did not dare to move.
As time passed, the notified officials gradually appeared on the square until the square was filled.
Mao Xiang arrived late and reported the notification to Lao Zhu.
"Your Majesty, except for a few who were not found, everyone else has arrived."
"Record a few people and check their whereabouts when the time comes."
"promise."
"Also, any officials in the General Military Department who receive gifts from Liu Qian will be selected for me, as long as they receive more than the usual gifts from Liu Qian, and put them in front of Liu Qian and the two of them."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The two asked and answered questions. After Mao Xiang listened, he went out again and completed Lao Zhu's orders meticulously.
After the preparations were completed, Lao Zhu sat on the dragon chair and spoke slowly.
"At the beginning of the second year, we said that anyone who embezzles sixty taels will be put to death."
"But corruption is common and happens from time to time."
"Today, our Minister of War, the head of the Ministry of War, has made nearly ten thousand dollars in profit from the Ministry of War."
"Exchanging a good horse for a bad one, haha, he actually dared to do it for us."
"Maybe some people think our knife is dull or rusty.
Don't take our words seriously. "
"Today, I will show you whether my sword is useful or not."
"And not only is it profitable, it's also fast."
"According to my decree, Liu Qian, the minister of the Ministry of War, has harmed the public, enriched himself, corrupted and perverted the law. His crime cannot be pardoned."
"Now peel off its skin first, then cut its flesh, and then you can execute it."
"The head of the Driving Department is an accomplice of Liu Qian and cannot be forgiven."...
"The punishment is to be Ling Chi, to be cut into pieces with a thousand knives, to serve as a warning to others, and then the execution can be carried out."
Two different punishments, and the most painful.
As soon as Lao Zhu made the penalty, everyone, including the shaken ministers, suddenly regained their spirits.
Some were calm, some were horrified, and some couldn't bear it anymore and simply collapsed, whether it was physical or mental weakness.
The military officials who were specially ordered by Lao Zhu to watch the ceremony all had horrified expressions.
After learning the final result, Liu Qian and the head of the Driving Department collapsed.
One knife was okay, but he couldn't bear much crime. The current punishment of being beheaded alive would make him unable to die for a while. He could only watch his life force drain away little by little, and he would have to endure inhuman pain.
I can't stand it, I can't stand it at all.
"Your Majesty, I have committed a serious crime. I don't want to survive, but I want to be happy. I beg Your Majesty to have mercy!"
Shouting at the top of his lungs, Lao Zhu remained unmoved. As the executioner came on stage, time seemed to freeze and passed extremely slowly.
Baiguan's eyes twitched fiercely as the first knife fell.
A trickle of blood remained, staining the ground red.
Liu Qian was stabbed from the back, split the skin into two halves along the spine, and then slowly tore open like a butterfly spreading its wings.
This scene alone made some people unable to bear it and retched on the ground.
Ling Chi also felt uncomfortable. He cut it off with a knife and gradually changed beyond recognition.
Both are capital punishments, one is unbearable, let alone two.
As time passed, more and more people were retching on the ground, which was a great torment for both the stage and the audience.
Lao Zhu was unmoved, not even blinking an eyelid. The only people who could compare with Lao Zhu were the military generals. After all, they all came out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. This scene was nothing but child's play, but he couldn't help but lose his temper. twitching.
Zheng Xiong was bored in the side hall. It was past noon, but he still couldn't leave.
Quietly thinking, he moved his legs and walked outside step by step.
When the guard saw Zheng Xiong walking out, he didn't pay much attention and just sent someone to follow him.
There was no one in the main hall, so he walked out of the hall step by step, and happened to see a group of people looking into the distance.
Zheng Xiong did not look carefully at the retching crowd, nor did he think much. Driven by curiosity, he first looked at the two executioners on the high platform.
Although the distance was far away, the two bloody figures were still clearly visible.
The non-human appearance immediately made Zheng Xiong scream and spurt out all the little residue left in the morning.
I couldn't vomit after that, even the sour water didn't escape me.
